the Way of the Turtle

9.4 Mile Run Along the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I absolutely hate the hot, humid weather we've been having lately... when it gets like this all I want to do is sit in front of a fan or maybe sleep... I find it awfully tough to not be even lazier than usual. Which is why I waited until late in the evening before heading over to the bike path for a run... I was really hoping it would be a bit cooler than it was when I peeked my head out the door this afternoon. (I guess I should be grateful that evening is my preferred time to work out!)

Well, it was cooler (there was even a bit of a breeze at times, which felt great) but it was still very humid, so I spent much of the run drenched in sweat that just wouldn't evaporate. The first 6 miles were tough... my legs just wouldn't seem to warm up and had me seriously wondering just how much endurance and fitness I've lost because of my injured knee. Ironically, other than my knees starting to grumble, the last 3 miles weren't as bad... except that the crotch of my compression shorts shredded (I guess they were an older pair) and I began having visions of spending the next few days with major chafing along my thighs and more sensitive areas. So I did my best to rearrange them and headed back to the car a bit sooner than I might have otherwise.

One of the herons was hunting down at the boat launch when I headed out on the path... I would imagine it's a lot easier to see prey in the clear water near the shore than it is out on th majority of the shallows, which have been taken over by the summer crop of water chestnut. Since it was dark most of the time, I didn't see much else tonight... glimpses of a few bats and birds, but that's all. Lots of frogs and insects calling, of course, and toward the end of my run I did hear a bird call several times that I thought might be a screech owl... having listened to some calls online I'm not sure, but it's a possibility. It was a fairly clear night, so I had a great view of the stars and a very bright planet Jupiter off in the southern sky - Jupiter is just out of opposition (on the opposite side of the Earth from th Sun) which is when it's closest to the Earth and brightest in the sky. Later the cooling air and high humidity made it a bit foggy, which was kind of neat...

JMH